The Hollywood Fishbowl

It’s been a while! Welcome to the new and improved and completely different Hollywood Fishbowl. It looks like guests are a thing of the past and if we are doing a show, we’re doing it just the two of us. In this episode of the Esther/Koester Sequester Fest, we discuss Covid-19 and how it’s changed our lives, Black Lives Matter and whether or not Alex Winter’s Freaked is the best film ever made… or the greatest.

Guests are hard to come by during a global sequester so we’re turning to a classic format - What A Movie(?)! In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, we’re watching the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie! Jesse’s seen it before so he’s out of the guessing. But not only is the film well off of Swinky’s radar, the entire franchise is all but absent from her purview. After guessing the plot well, the catch phrases poorly and the turtles’...

Arriving in LA wasn’t easy for J-John (like it is for anyone…) and getting on his feet involved a bit more hustle than our average guest. He started his first businesses down in Skid Row and it wasn’t long before legal intervention prevented his enterprises from growing as wide as he’d like. Writing on the wall, J-John straightened out and has been keeping clean since then. As always, thank you for listening! EPISODE NOTES Season 03 Episode 12 Potpourri: Landing In LA & Straightening Out...

J-John is our first guest to be booked by Swinky! J-John is a charmer always ready with a yarn about growing up in the dirty south. His stories are so plentiful that we’ve had to split this conversation into two parts. The first half covers his childhood and time in the foster care system. The second half (which will be released Thursday) covers his arrival in LA, his early days here hustling on the street and going straight. As always, thank you for listening! Episode Notes Season 03...

We’re on voluntary lockdown! Won’t you join us? No, really. Please join us. We’d love love it if we all came together (separately, of course) in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19. In this episode, we talk about what a unique week it’s been, breaking the developments down day by day and the impact the virus has had on our lives and our hearts. The highs have been high. The lows have been low. But on we go and on we go. As always, thanks for listening! NOTES Season 03 Episode...

Producer and DJ Burt Blackarach grew up in the thick of the Los Angeles music scene and he never really left. The list of people he’s worked with is indeed formidable. It’s so beefy, in fact, that we decided not to list it here because it would just look like we were trying to butter up to Google’s keyword algorithms. Instead, we decided to let the man speak for himself. It’s not here for lists anyway. You’re here for insight into the world of music, DJing, producing and MCing, which Burt...

Swinky and Jesse have co-hosted co-ghosted with the co-mosted before. In a different life… In a different world… Back in Japan, they produced a movie-review podcast called What A Movie(?). In celebration of Bong Joon-ho taking home Best Picture at The Oscars this year, we’re reviving that old format. If you like what you hear here, you can listen to every single episode of What A Movie(?) ever recorded here: https://sunshinepicturesllc.com/wam. As always, thank you for...

We sat down with actor/dancer/writer/performer Megan Rippey as she was in the process of moving her solo show Deer Woman from the showcase stage of The Whitefire Theatre to The Fringe Festival circuit. Having gotten the nuts-n-bolts perspective of directing the show from Valerie Hager, we were thrilled for the chance to find out how the play was written and, of course, which parts were true, which were lensed truth and which were fabricated. The story of the origins of Deer Woman turns out...

The ever-growing network continues to grow! And grow again! If you follow our non-Fishbowl work, you’re already familiar with Robert Parker Jr. and his collaborations with Swinky (at Babylon Cabaret and strolling down the beach). We finally do the deep dive with Robert and midway through the conversation, who should jump on mic but Jennifer Foster. Swinky, Robert and Jennifer chop it up on the music front while Jesse tries to name all of the 7 dwarves. Get out your pen and pad because we’re...

We’d love to introduce Santina Muha but you likely already know about her from shows like the impossible to spell Spontaneanation, the strangely punctuated Comedy Bang! Bang!, the slightly difficult to spell and slightly strangely punctuated Assscat! and the easy to spell and punctuate One Day At A Time. Santina walks us through her early life in New Jersey, her college career studying sociology and her early jobs before moving to LA (including her time reporting for Tiger Beat Magazine)....

Introverts called to a life-long career of public performance, this episode is for you! Magician/Mime (/many other trades and skills) Tina Lenert identifies as a life-long introvert but is also a career performer. As the conversation unfolds, we discover that she’s not a magician in spite of her social traits but more because of it. Tina walks us through her early days as a guitarist, her other early days as a mime and her other other early days as a magician. Oh, and there’s goat yoga. To...

In the history of The Hollywood Fishbowl, this conversation is easily the most likely to never have happened. Swinky first met Miss Charity Lockhart in Korea at a swing festival where the two were booked as co-headliners. While Charity was tearing up the stage and Swinky was contending with some serious imposter syndrome. To hear the story of what went right, you have to listen to the episode (spoiler: by dint of this episode existing, you can guess that there’s a happy ending). As always,...

Season 03 Episode 02 Storytelling: Harnessing The Power Of The Solo Show With Director Valerie Hager Recorded on January 16, 2020 Released on January 21, 2020 Episode Duration: 01:17:50 Valerie Hager can be found on www.nakedinalaska.com and www.valeriehager.com. Jesse can be found on Instagram @jjkoester and on the web at www.sunshinepicturesllc.com. Swinky can be found on Twitter & Instagram @swinkymusic and on the web at www.swinkymusic.com. Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on...

Shhh! Swinky's At Work!

NOTES Season 03 Episode 01 Happy American New Year! We Welcome You With Open Arms, 2020! Recorded on January 12, 2020 Released on January 14, 2020 Episode Duration: 00:44:34 Swinky can be found on Twitter & Instagram @swinkymusic and on the web at www.swinkymusic.com. Jesse can be found on Instagram @jjkoester and on the web at www.sunshinepicturesllc.com. Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.

Season 02 Episode 54 The Thrilling Conclusion of The Inaugural Annual 2019 Hollies Woodies Fishies Bowlies! Released on: December 31, 2019 Episode Duration: 03:08:09 Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.

Season 02 Episode 53 Silent Moly! Holy Moly! It’s The Holiday Spectacular! PART I Released on December 28, 2019 Episode Duration: 01:40:58 Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.

NOTES Season 02 Episode 52 Magic - Simone Turkington Is A Tiki Doll Come To Life Recorded on November 30, 2019 Released on December 17, 2019 Episode Duration: 01:17:44 Simone Turkington can be found on Twitter @tikidoll, Instagram @tikidoll and on the web at https://www.magicsimone.com/. Swinky can be found on Twitter & Instagram @swinkymusic and on the web at www.swinkymusic.com. Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.

Season 02 Episode 51 Magic - Hannibal Unpacks The Emotions That Birth The Art Recorded on November 21, 2019 Released on December 10, 2019 Episode Duration: 01:51:03 Hannibal can be found on Twitter @magicartist on the web at http://chrishannibal.com/. Swinky can be found on Twitter & Instagram @swinkymusic and on the web at www.swinkymusic.com. Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.

Season 02 Episode 50 Magic - Cover To Cover With Micah Cover Recorded on November 14, 2019 Released on December 3, 2019 Episode Duration: 01:18:32 Micah The Magician can be found on Twitter @micahcover, Instagram @micahthemagician and on the web at http://micahthemagician.com/. Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.